Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1887-11-19
pONA|!L Il. WIFE.

his ward. Jessie Summer, MANY Of
his friends said5he bad made q mis-
take.
She was asmeryy, laughing girl ol
eighteen, fresh from school; and he
her father'ssold friend, a nninr. self
contained m,n Of thirty-ivo, ami it
can scarcelFbe wondered at that
many wise heads were shaken over
the Ill sorted match.
Jessie had always stood alittle
in awe of tie quiet, stern man,who
had been aafr"nuent visitor at her
fathers house; during his life time.
Butsshe WAS quite nnprovIded
for. and Donald McKeln was
wealthy; and when he asked her
to be- his Wife in a matter-of fact
way, very Smuch as he might have
asked her tO=be his house-keeper.
it seemed The easiest way to solve
the troubIeSome problem of her life,
and, besides this, she knew her
rather to haye been under obliea-
tionS to him, and more than sus-
pccted th$t the three years she
had successfully passed at fash
ionable school since her fathers
death hadsbeen athis expense.
And so they were married, and
he took her to his old home that
his familyshad owned and occupied
for generations.
It neveESccurred to him that it
was dreary sort of life for girl
IKE Jessie alone in that gloomy
old houses Fall day, with only the
servants aud the ghosts of bygone
generations for company.
And when she grew pale and
llstless aud lost her old elasticity
of spirits,h fear that had haunted
him sinceShis wedding day took
possessloRsof9Lim and poisoned his
iife-a feSrS:tlat she had married
him for home and position and al
ready regsette,ls choice.
Gladlyswonld be have given her
back hersli,erty had that been pos
sible. BEfbeing a sensitive, IN
demonstTStiiSe MIN, let her see
81 fsf this, tut rather shrank
from her because of the wrong he
had done her and came and went
aud made no sign.
And then people began to dis
cover Mrs. McKeon to be a very
charming woman, and her husband
wealthy and nhuentiat man, and
invitations began to pour in upon
her.
And Jessie plunged into this new
life of fashionable dissipation with
Il zest that was the natural reaction
from the gloom and loneliness of
the past year.
At first her husband accompani-
ed her wherever she went, for he
had somewhat old-rashioned no,
tions as to what WAS right aId tit.
ting for women to do.
BUTT was a life he utterly de-
tested. 1t interferred with his
business, and he looked below the
surface and saw the hollow filse-
hood it was, after all, and it grated
on his fine ideas Of truth and sin
cerity.
Perhaps he was somewhat die
tatorial in his manner of telling
this; perhaps she imagined so. But
when he urged the point she re-
belled against his assumption of
authority.
1t was their first quarrel and
their last, but 1T was a very bitter
one.
She spoke cruel, singing words,
that ranked and stung him the
more that he had learned to love
her so dearly, as only reserved, self
constrained men such as he can
love, and then only when they
hoard all the treasures of their ma
ture to lavish it in middle life on
the woman who is their fate.
After that he opposed her in
nothing, but it was as though a
great wall Of ice had risen be ween
them.
He devoted himselfto business and
she became the acknowledged Lead
er of the most exclusive circle oil
the city.
She was madly extravagant.-
She made the house marvel OF
aesthetic beauty and entertained
like a princess. Mrs. McKeon's
toilets. jewels and dinners became
the models of her set.
Men worshiped her beauty; but
for all their batteries she had the
same smile of cold contemplated no
one was bold enough to venture be
You'd the most commonplace
And so The years passed and
each one drifted them further
apart, until they seldom met ex-
cept at their own great entertain.
ments. Each year she became
more the slave Of fashion, and lie
of his office. But through it all lie
loved her with an uIdying love
and his one thought was to crafty
her every whim.
And when the dark days came
when Ships that were freighted
with costly wares went down and
were head Ut no norc-wheu
houses that seemed stable as gran
lie failed. and ms wealth. seemed